CYHA NEWS

COUNTRYSIDE CLOSED?

Sadly this month's newsletter will have something of a theme - cancelled walks and trips due to the foot and mouth restrictions. But all is not lost! There is still cycling and sight-seeing; museums and culture; and, alas, shopping (I've just had my Visa bill after our trip to Cambridge - ouch!). Whilst the Isle of Wight may not be on a par with the wildness of the Lakes, it has much to recommend it including the fantastic coastal scenery and sandy coves (see inside for more details). So there's still much fun to be had.

Otherwise all we can do is extend our sympathies to all the farmers affected by this terrible plague and pray it's over with soon, although I fear it will be a long time before areas such as the Lakes are anything like back to normal.

Eye, Eye

At last our long-awaited trip on the London Eye. Who would believe it, after a winter of constant rain it was actually a gorgeous day. We were soon in our pod and rising over London with crystal clear panoramic views over the city. After 45 minutes in snap-happy heaven we descended back to earth for a bite of lunch and a king-size portion of culture at Tate Modern. The Modern is a huge place packed full of stuff that extends the definition of the word "art". As Robert (our chief art critic) pointed out: "It's all a load of b****cks, isn't it".

Trudi's birthday celebrations: No.1

St. Patrick's Day saw a small group of us elbowing through the drunken crowds (none of them Irish) to get to the Piccadilly Theatre with just seconds to spare! The show in question was the junk opera "Shockheaded Peter". It revolves around the awful calamities befalling a series of naughty children (Harriet and the matches, Fidgety Phil, Augustus and the Soup, etc.) Good material for comedy? I thought it was hysterical & spent most of Monday humming "naughty, naughty, little girl - she burned to death, we told her so!". Thanks to Trudi for her excellent suggestion! Happy to celebrate your birthday anytime.

Ali

Trudi's birthday celebrations: No.2

The Weald Park walk was cancelled, so Dave, Tom and I cycled from Chelmsford to have dinner at Trudi's. We rode through floods in Central Park, through Blackmore and Doddinghurst to Billericay and then back via Stock. Along the way, we passed the Brentwood half marathon and fun run. I generally regard "fun" and "run" as mutually exclusive, and the fact that we could effortlessly overtake runners who were puffing and blowing, shows how efficient cycling is. Thanks to Trudy for an excellent dinner.

Jim

Cambridge in the Rain

With the Capel-y-Ffin weekend sadly cancelled due to the foot and mouth restrictions, we had to trade the mountains of the Brecon Beacons for a damp Saturday in Cambridge. A fair trade? Well it might not have the natural beauty of the Welsh mountains, but Cambridge is steeped in history, beautiful architecture , museums and shops. The weather was a bit grey, but as we were mostly flitting between pubs, teashops and museums, it didn't really matter, and the whole thing was rounded off with a superb curry at a local Indian.

More Art and Culture

On Jim's suggestion the Welsh trip was replaced by a day in Cambridge with Jane as unofficial guide. We had a tour of the colleges and managed to get some climbing in by ascending the church tower for good views across the city. We then went up and down the tower 20 times at speed, to roughly equate to the climbing missed in Wales, in full hiking gear. As tradition dictates the day included a pub and tea shop, and some of us ventured to a gallery to get another fix of modern art, which we first encountered at the Tate Modern a few weeks earlier.

Feeling very cultured a few of us ventured into theatre land to see Love's Labour Lost. It is the first Shakespeare I've been to and the play was a wonderful interpretation of this fine play which was full of deep and profound ideas....actually, although I understood each individual word spoken, I did not really have a clue what was going on at all. The play might as well have been in Russian so incomplete was my comprehension. Trudi allayed my fears that I was just too thick to understand, saying there were far too many words in the play and that it was the bard's first play (and a bit of a turkey). But it was well acted and a good evening. PS can anyone explain the plot?

Dave J.

See also the latest installment of Gerry's account of his Trip to Venezuela

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